Where the World Drops Off

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fanfiction
Title: Where the World Drops Off
Author(s): portraitofafool
Date(s): October 22, 2010[1] – January 16, 2011[2]
Length: 77,726 words
Genre: slash fanfiction, angst, happy end[3]
Fandom: Hawaii Five-0
External Links: Takedown by the author[note 1]

Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Where the World Drops Off is a Steve/Danny story by portraitofafool. At some point after 2012 or 2013,[3] the author locked the story, with that currently all links have the text access denied, except the first chapter which was defunct.[3]

Summary:

After a car accident leaves Steve with no memory at all, he has to rebuild his life one step at a time with a little help from his friends along the way.

Chapter Index

The summary of chapters are extracted from the publications of portraitofafool at hawaii5_0slash.

  • Chapter 1: Left with amnesia after a horrible accident nearly takes his life, Steve is left with a blank slate in place of his memory. Now he has to try and rebuild a new world from the ashes of his old one.[4]
  • Chapter 2: After he wakes up, things for Steve don’t get much better, not right away. He slowly comes to understand that he was in an accident and that he was seriously injured. He sees other people talk and interact, sharing memories and recollections. He no longer has any of his own. It’s just one more face-full of sand as he sprawls headlong into this new life with no recollection of the one before it.[5]
  • Chapter 3: Shards of memory begin to surface for Steve like teasing and sometimes, cruel, ghosts as he continues to adjust to his new life as well. Things aren't so bad after all, except when they are. But there's always someone there to help him through the rough patches. He makes a new friend, meets an old one again and swims with dolphins. All while bickering with Danny over junk food and shoelaces.[6]
  • Chapter 4: Still struggling to recover his memories, Steve comes to a few conclusions about himself and finds out that maybe he hasn't forgotten everything after all. At least not as completely as he originally thought. Whether or not that's a good thing, he's not really sure. Oh and Cheetos are still a pretty big deal, too.[7]
  • Chapter 5: Not everything is hearts and rainbows, it's more like thunder and lightning. Steve thinks he can deal with that though; hearts and rainbows are for girls anyway.[8]
  • Chapter 6: True to his word, Danny insists that they take things slow until at least the first date. Yes, date. After that, slow can go hang, Steve decides.[9]
  • Chapter 7: This is where the world drops off.[10]

Recs and Reviews

Why we love it: This beautifully put together story has such incredible depth it will leave you slightly breathless. Amnesia fic is a favorite trope in many fandoms but we have rarely, if ever, seen it done better than this. The characters are still recognizable and the Steve in this will break your heart in some ways but the end leave you hopeful for them all. The layers of imagery, the fantastic OCs and the compassion and dignity that the author treats the story matter [11]

I'm back from vacation with more recs! One of may favorite fanfic tropes is amnesia. I love it, and I will hunt it down in every fandom I'm in. Where the World Drops Off is probably my favorite amnesia story. Period. In any fandom. Steve lies in a coma for months following a near-fatal car accident. When he finally wakes up, he has no memory of himself or his past. He slowly puts together a new life with the help of his team - especially Danny - and a new friend, his physical therapist, Devion, who is one of the richest, most well-drawn original characters I've ever seen in a fan fic. In addition to dealing with the amnesia, this story does not gloss over the terrible physical injuries Steve receives in the accident, his recovery from them and their lingering effects.

portraitofafool is not tempted to go the easy route of producing a "miracle cure" and having everything back to the way it was by the end of the story as so many disability fics do. While there is a happy ending, nobody is the same, least of all, Steve.

This story is full of great details, such as the book club that Danny, Chin and Kono form while reading to Steve while he is in the coma and that continues throughout the story. I also love that Steve and Mary get to have the relationship they were never able to have before. It's just a wonderful story that will have you laughing and crying and wishing you'd written it.

Excerpt:

He was aware—and always was—that maybe there was more going on with his worries than just a casual fear because it /ate/ at him. He’d asked those same questions out loud a couple of times, but inside it was like a running loop of dialog in his head. It went everywhere with him, standing beside him while making a sandwich; peering over his shoulder while he was tying his shoes. It was there, soaping his wet back in the shower or looking out at him from the mirror as he brushed his teeth. That anxiety never went away, just like his fear of falling asleep. He didn’t know if he could stand that kind of grief again; mourning for something as intangible as memories was like grasping at nothing but air; insubstantial, but vital. Fear stemming from that kind of loss had the potential to be suffocating if not held at bay. That knowledge was even heavier when he had his friends—old and new—all gathered on his back lawn, grilling and talking; sharing drinks and laughs. He’d looked out at them all gathered there and sighed at the possibility that one day that, too, could be taken away from him.[12]

[random00b]

I have a thing for amnesia fic and the falling-back-in-love-with-your-lover-in-spite-of tropes. This epic fic is so well-written and so realistic (spoiler: memory doesn’t come back) that your heart breaks. It’s also the one fic that sucked me permanently into the H5-O fandom; if there is just one 5-O fic you read from this month's recs, this is it.[13]

Notes

  1. ^ After several reupload requests and copies of the work, portraitofafool who already had removed Where the World Drops Off reiterated his request not to share his works and asked that any and all readers who have a copy of this fanfic of it delete it.

    "About Where the World Drops Off - I am in my own mind. — LiveJournal". 2013-09-23. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.

References

  1. ^ "October 2010 - The Waves of Love — LiveJournal". 2010-10-01. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  2. ^ "February 2011 - The Waves of Love — LiveJournal". 2011-02-01. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  3. ^ a b c "mcdanno car crash fic - Hawaii Five-O fic finder community — LiveJour…". 2017-01-15. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  4. ^ "Fic: Where the World Drops Off: Ch. I Danny/Steve PG-13/R - The…". 2010-10-22. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  5. ^ "Fic: Where the World Drops Off: Ch. II Danny/Steve PG-13 - The …". 2010-10-24. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  6. ^ "Fic: Where the World Drops Off: Ch. III Danny/Steve R - The Wav…". 2010-11-02. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  7. ^ "Fic: Where the World Drops Off Ch. IV Danny/Steve R - The Waves…". 2010-11-15. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  8. ^ "Fic: Where the World Drops Off: Ch. V Danny/Steve R - The Waves…". 2010-11-20. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  9. ^ "Where the World Drops Off: Ch. VI Danny/Steve NC-17 - The Waves…". 2010-12-04. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  10. ^ "Where the World Drops Off Ch. VII Danny/Steve R - The Waves of …". 2011-02-16. Archived from the original on 2022-03-20.
  11. ^ shinysylver in: h50-rec-room. Themed Thursday (9/15/11) - Long!Fic Part 2. (Accessed 16 May 2016)
  12. ^ iamrosalita in: crack_van. Where the World Drops Off (NC-17), 24 July 2011. (Accessed 16 May 2016)
  13. ^ "February 22nd Random Rec: Where the World Drops Off (Steve/Danny, Haw…". 2011-02-22. Archived from the original on 2022-03-19.
Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=Where_the_World_Drops_Off&oldid=2311965"